Chapter 21
Section 21 of History of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages, Volume 3, by Hartman Grisar. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 4, Monumental Contrasts in Rome, The Imperial Forums and the Flaminian Way, Christian Cemeteries of the Byzantine Period, Part 7. The Surroundings of the Flaminian Gate. A visitor in ancient times, following the straight line of the Flaminian Way, through the Flaminian Gate, would have perceived to the left,
just outside the Aurelian city wall, another Sephiroth Kroll monument of huge size. Its inscription and reliefs are a striking memorial of the habits of imperial Rome. The Ein Seidon Guide noticed it and copied the inscription, which extols the deceased, Aelius Guta Calpurnius, as one of the greatest charioteers and jockeys of his time. His immortal victories are all registered in the lengthy text of the inscription. The factions for which he won prizes are all named
with painful precision. Even the names of the horses are engraved and immortalized with the rider. Five of the luckiest actually have their portraits graven in outline on the monument, namely Palmitus, Danaeus, Oceanus, Victor, and Vindex. The charioteer's quadriga also figures among the representations. This far-famed hero belonged to the time of the Antonines. The fate of his Seperal Curl monument was tragic. It seems to have existed down to the 15th century
when it was demolished. In 1877, when the two fortified towers flanking the gate and dating from Sixtus IV, were pulled down. Remains of the vanished tomb were found built into the right-hand tower. When the tower was being erected, builders who had no respect for the exploits of Calpurnius had apparently made use of his mausoleum as material for their work. These remains, with their graven portraits, are now exposed in the town museum on the Callius.
The Einseindel Guide also preserves the text of another inscription, which could formerly be read close to the Flamenean gate. This did not belong to a tomb, but concerned municipal affairs, and made known a law of Marcus Aurelius concerning payment of import dues. The inscription proves that a whole century before the Aurelian wall was built, the urban boundary line, where these duties were levied, passed near this spot. The imperial mausoleum of the Domitians near the
Flamonian gate was also erected outside the city. It was another of the superb memorials crowning the northwest side of the Pincean Hill and stood upon the rising ground immediately behind the present church of Santa Maria del Popolo. The ashes of the emperor Nero, who belonged to this family, were deposited here. The Romans of the Middle Ages, mindful of the fact that the cruel persecutor of the church had found his last resting place here, regarded it with a sort of
uneasy dread. It was said that Nero's ghost was wont to quit its place of torment and to haunt this spot, showing itself and making itself heard. The late medieval legend of the origin of the church just mentioned connects the building with Nero's dark memory and his restless ghost. It tells us how the desecrated spot demanded an act of reparation and how it was restored to calm only after the erection of this church of Our Lady by Pascal II. Most of the older Roman
topographers agreed in placing the ancient Flaminian gateway upon this slope of the Pincian Hill. This mistake was due to the misunderstanding of a passage in Procopius. The natural spot to seek for the gate was at the end of the straight street, and in recent times this has been proved to have been the case beyond a shadow of doubt. While work was in progress at the Porta del Popolo in 1877, it became clear that this gate occupied exactly the position of the ancient Flamonian gate
in the Aurelian Wall, and below the Porta del Popolo remains were even found of the original circular towers of the Porta Flamania. The battlements of these Aurelian towers, or better still, the heights near the imperial mausoleum of the Domitians, enable us to cast a glance back at the glories we have passed in the city and at the grand panorama beyond. On the left, the horizon is bounded by the terrace slopes of the Pincian Hill, with the gardens and buildings
belonging to the Asciliae, that Christian family whose acquaintance we have already made. Adjoining them also on the left of the picture, behind a great Nymphaeum, at the foot of the Pincius, we see the long, picturesque series of arcades of the Aqua Virgo, beginning its course into the city. Quite to the right, on the other verge of the city, beyond the Tiber and below the Vatican Hill, rises St. Peter's Venerable Basilica, which then, as now, faces our vantage ground,
its front corresponding to its ancient form, that of a five-aisled basilica. The wall above the atrium glitters in the sun with its great mosaics on a gold ground, visible from afar. To its left, a keen eye might discern the slender spike of the obelisk in the Circus of Gaius and Nero. On the same right bank of the Tiber, our glance rests on Hadrian's mausoleum, and then, traveling across the river, dwells in astonishment upon the buildings of the Campus Martius, of which the series begins with the Mole of Augustus. We have alluded merely to the monuments in the vicinity of the Flaminian Way, disregarding a host of towering architectural structures on the level ground of the campus Martius, and in the ninth region, lying to the west of the road, that is, to our right.
Among these were the baths of Nero and of Alexander Severus. Their massive outlines seem to form a center to this forest of masterpieces in stone. To the left, the cupula of the Pantheon soars into space, while to the right extends the lofty, colossal walls and tiers of seats of Domitian Stadium on the present Piazza Navona. Before and behind this group, temple roofs, theaters, thermae, gables of entrances to porticos or gardens, mingled with
columns, obelisks, triumphal arches and cupulas of every kind, all rising towards the radiant southern sun, concealed below, the superb porticos of their fountains, shops, statues, and other works of art. It is true that at the time of our ramble, all this showed signs of decay, but even in the 6th century, the aspect of the Queen of the World still bore the stamp of beauty and grandeur impressed upon her. Looking down the majestic course of the Flamonian Way, with its triumphal
arches, the eye was not confined, as it now is, to the narrow line of roadway. At that period, it was possible to look over the monuments ranged on each side of the road, both to the right and to the left. In the background, beyond the Sept of Julia, could be seen the frowning stronghold of the capital. Below the baths of Constantine were Trajan's Forum, while the baths themselves could be discerned in all their enormous length, seated on a projection of the Quirinal. Behind these,
on the Viminal and Esquiline hills, lay a confused mass of houses and monuments, interspersed by gardens. Quite humble is the appearance of the Christian basilicas among all these buildings, while that of the monasteries is even humbler. The churches and monasteries of the great city were wont to lavish their own peculiar decorations on their interiors. Nevertheless, St. Peter's, the Lateran, and a few other imperial foundations were happy exceptions even in outward
appearance. These insignificant churches and monasteries were, however, to take possession in future ages of the inheritance of the classic world. The fallen empire and the heathen capital were dead forevermore. The vision of splendor over which our eyes have roamed was hopelessly doomed to vanish. The fate then overtaking the masterworks of genius in this focus of the world's history deserves indeed to excite throughout all time the sympathy of mankind. Our only comfort is
in the recollection that providence preserved much of what was noblest and best in Rome and the ancient world and transformed it for the good of humanity. With what feelings, however, must cultured pilgrims from Germania on their visit to declining Rome have regarded the inscriptions and monuments on the Via Flamania, which spoke of Rome's eternal rule over the world. Pilgrims from the north usually entered the city by this highway, and on their road they certainly
had reason enough to compare things as they were with what they had been once. At the mausoleum of Augustus, the inscriptions on the bronze tablets at the entrance glorified the emperor as conqueror of the world. What had, however, become of the scepter he wields so proudly on the well-known statue? The pilgrims saw monuments of former triumphs of Rome over Gaul, Spain, Egypt, but now these countries obey other rulers. They saw the humbled figure of their own country, Germania,
upon the triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius, and again in the Temple of Neptune as a mourner among the statues representing the subdued provinces. If they were able here to recognize the Germanic features, it must have been even easier to perceive the northern stamp on the faces of the prisoners and slaves portrayed in statuary. But these barbarians of the north were now beginning to impose their laws on the Roman world. What is more, they had already begun to combine Roman
civilization with Christianity, and in addition, were displaying such life and energy, such determination and enterprise as promised well for a new era of Christian civilization. End of section 21
